"O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together"-Psalm 34:3
"Now, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, according to the responsibility which I am under to God, to magnify mine office with soberness, and that I might rid my garments of your sins, I come up into the temple this day that I might declare unto you the word of God."-Jacob 2:2
"Magnify thine office...and I will bless them both spiritually and temporally"-Doctrine and Covenants 24:3
"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies."-Doctrine and Covenants 84:33
Ok, there's your scripture blast. Basically, the point is, each and every one of us on the face of this earth have a calling given to us by God. Sometimes, it is formally given to us by our Bishop/Pastor/Priest. Sometimes, we just feel that calling. I would like to propose a reason why we receive those callings. That reason is to purify us and serve those within our stewardship.
The word stewardship needs a little attention. When I say stewardship, particularly in association with a calling, the best example I can give is that of me being a Husband & Father. I truly believe that God has called me to this role. By so doing, I have responsibility or stewardship over my wife and cute little baby Anna. It's a great responsibility, and as a part of that calling, I am to provide, preside & protect (as well as other mushy things like love).
Ok, that in mind- how to I "magnify" my calling? How do I become better? And more importantly, WHY does God want me to do it?
There's a lot of ways to magnify your calling, and each calling has a different way to magnify it. But there are some general ways to magnify any calling, and that's what I want to focus on...get it...focus...ok maybe you'll get it later.
Exhibit A: A magnifying glass.
You remember these right?
Or maybe you remember doing this a little bit better:
The second one there was my primary purpose in getting a magnifying glass as a kid. I'm not quite sure if I was ever successful at roasting an ant.
There's some really cool features about a magnifying glass. It does two things:
1)Magnify- You're going "well duh, I'm not that stupid" and you're right, you're not. But I have to note it, because I will talk about it for the next little bit here. But you get the basic premise, you use the glass to make something look larger, so you can see it better. Interestingly enough this works both ways. If I were to hold a magnifying glass at just the right position between you and me, my eye would look massive to you, and your eye would look massive to me.
2)Focus- This is the ant roasting principle. It is something unique to convex lenses, and is depicted very well by the top part of the following image:
Basically, light entering straight into the lens (mind you it must be perfectly straight) will focus into a very important point called ta da the "focal point" (those mathematicians are so creative with their terms).
Ok, now that I have bored you with some nerdy physics/math, it's time to get to the faith part of this. Remember, I was talking about "magnifying your calling."
Let's start with the second first. What does a magnifying glass do? Focus light. Imagine for a second that God is the sun. The light that comes from him is his spirit and goodness and truth. If we, acting in our stewardship, are magnifying our calling, those whom we serve are going to feel the spiritual "heat" of the love of God. Now, in this case getting "hot" is a good thing.
Now, the first thing that a magnifying glass does- Magnify. Or amplify the apparent size of the image. I find this to be a very important part of this very elaborate analogy. The interesting thing is, whenever you have a calling, you have some kind of stewardship. And 9 times out of 10, that calling has something to do with bringing others to Christ. So, let's get this straight-we are magnifying the image of Christ, as we magnify our calling.
There are a couple of things that we can do to magnify God to those who you serve. Here are some of the ways I thought that we can be better "magnifying glasses" for our respective callings.
First- Orientation. Are you holding your magnifying glass in the right way? Or, what are you trying to magnify? It is really easy to get caught up in the worldly desire for praise of men. The truth is, me must be magnifying our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They are the ones that deserve magnifying, NOT YOU.
Have you ever heard the phrase "You make a better door than a window." My parents used to say it to me all the time when I was standing in front of the television trying to get their attention. The same holds true here. Are you blocking the spirit of God from hitting those whom you serve? Are you missing it all together?
There's a lot to be said about just being there. I love the phrase "Open your mouth." So many times, particularly on my mission, I had no idea what to say. I simply walked up to a complete stranger and the Lord filled my mouth with what that person really needed at the time. Just facing the right direction and being willing to do what He wants you to, is sometimes the hardest part. But God wants laborers.
Second- Placement. Have you noticed if you move a magnifying glass a little bit forward or back, things become blurred or distorted.
If we "hover" too closely over those within our stewardship, they won't gain nearly as much. Also, if we give too much distance between ourselves and our stewardship, the image of Christ will not be clear to them.
Now, this is not so say that as we get closer to Christ, we must place more distance between ourselves and our stewardship. The way it should work is as we get closer to Christ, those in our stewardship come along with us.
Third- Clarity. When I was a kid, I had some of the dinky plastic molded toy magnifying glasses like the first picture in this post. After years of wear and tear, the lens became badly scratched. It turned almost murky, and lost all ability to transmit light.
Our personal purity in our lives has a great deal to do with how well other people can see the Savior through us. If our lives are clouded with impure thoughts, actions, etc, how can we expect others to see Christ through us?
Lucky for us, we have the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ to clarify those impurities.
Fourth- Focus or curvature. Now, there's a lot to be said about how our personal focus in life corresponds to how well we can truly magnify the Savior's role in other's lives.
A perfect convex lens or magnifying glass has it's focal point directly in the center of the lens some distance away. The Savior should be our focal point. If our lens is slightly off center, we will not be able to properly transmit the light.
I've noticed that as I gain the ability to really block out the noise and distractions of the world (Video Games, TV, etc.) then my ability to truly magnify my calling and to feel the Spirit is truly enhanced.
Fifth- Balance. What if part of the magnifying glass has more magnification than another? The image will become distorted.
It is really easy for us, in seeking to magnify our calling to forget some of the other very important things in life. For me, I tend to spend a lot more time thinking about my family, and not so much about my calling as a missionary. Now, if I were to stop spending time with my family and just go doing missionary work 24/7, I wouldn't be doing what is right either. There is a balance between our many different callings in life. Believe it or not, your career is likely in there as one of your callings in life, so quitting your day job isn't the solution...sorry.
Sixth- Receive. One interesting thing about magnifying or focusing, either way, you need to receive the light yourself before you can transmit it. This is one of the greatest blessings of truly magnifying your calling. Not only do you get to bless the lives of others and do the Lord's work, but you also get to receive an abundance of the Lord's spirit as he is guiding you to serve others.
Another interesting aspect of this receiving principle. If your clarity is off, and you're positioned well, that light will hit you (the lens) and start to heat you up (because you have absorbed light). From there, you are thrown into the refiners fire, and clarified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Think of that, if you are simply WILLING to serve God, he can help with the rest. If you just place yourself in the right spot, even though you aren't perfect. He will make your efforts perfect!
So there it is-go forth and MAGNIFY!!!
